


Inheritance

by plain_jane08 (awolfling)



Series: All encompassing [7]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Chronic Illness, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-17 02:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1371439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awolfling/pseuds/plain_jane08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Danno,” Grace says with a bit of a whine, “My tummy’s sore.”</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Written for a prompt that asked for an IBS scare with Grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inheritance

“Danno,” Grace says with a bit of a whine, “My tummy’s sore.”

 

“Aw, I’m sorry Monkey,” Danny says, hugging Grace gently and pressing his lips to her forehead to check for a temperature. She doesn’t feel hot. “Is there anything else wrong?”

 

“Yeah,” Grace says, shifting awkwardly, “I have to go a lot.”

 

“To the bathroom, you mean?” Danny asks.

 

“Yeah,” Grace says shyly.

 

“You’ve got diarrhea?” Danny asks.

 

Grace blushes and nods.

 

“Ok, you should probably stay home from school today. Have you got anything important going on today? Tests?”

 

“No,” Grace says, looking relieved that she doesn’t have to go to school.

 

“Ok, I’m going to phone your mom and see if she’s got anything on this morning, otherwise you’re going to have to come to the office with me,” Danny says. Grace is still too young, in his opinion, to stay home alone. By the frown forming on Grace’s face it’s clear she feels differently.

 

A quick call to Rachel confirms that she’s free and after a call to Grace’s school saying that she won’t be there, Danny and Steve drop Grace off at Rachel’s on the way to work.

 

+

 

Grace is at school the next day and her sick day slips Danny’s mind completely until the next week when he gets a phone call from Rachel.

 

“Hi Danny,” Rachel says, “I just received a phonecall from Grace’s school saying she’s ill and someone needs to pick her up. I’ve got a meeting to get to, would it be possible for you to go get her and keep her until I’m done?”

 

“Of course, Rach,” Danny says, always happy to spend time with Grace, even if under less than ideal circumstances, “Did they say what’s wrong?”

 

“Stomach ache again,” Rachel says and Danny can hear the concern in her voice, “She’s been getting them on and off for the past week.”

 

That doesn’t sit well with Danny.

 

“Ok,” Danny says, “We’ll be at the office when you’re ready to pick Grace up, unless you want me to drop her off?”

 

“No, that’s fine, I’ll be coming past anyway. Give Grace a kiss from me,” Rachel asks.

 

“Sure thing, Rach,” Danny says, ending the call.

 

Grace looks miserable when Danny picks her up, though she brightens at the idea of going home.

 

“This sucks,” Grace mumbles as Danny hugs her.

 

“Yeah,” Danny agrees with a frown.

 

+

 

The following months Grace has almost as many stomach aches as Danny and Danny’s concern is growing into full blown anxiety. They’ve taken her to a doctor a few times but each time he prescribes painkillers, antidiarrheals and rest. Grace’s school has begun to question how many days she’s missed and he can tell that Rachel is stressed too, every time he sees her.

 

It’s a night before they have Grace again that Danny raises his concerns with Steve. They are lying in bed, about to go to sleep when Danny speaks.

 

“What if this is my fault?” Danny says, feeling sick with dread.

 

“Babe,” Steve says pulling Danny towards him and tucking Danny into his side, “Even if Grace does have IBS, it’s not your fault.”

 

“I can’t stand the thought of my baby girl suffering the way I do,” Danny states.

 

“I know, but we’re not sure yet what it is, and even if she does have IBS, she’s tough and she’ll cope just as well as you do,” Steve tries to reassure Danny.

 

+

 

The doctor they go to asks to speak to Danny and Rachel separate from Grace, so Grace stays in the waiting room flipping through some teeny magazine. Danny can tell by the way she’s jiggling her leg that she’s just as nervous as Danny is.

 

The doctor asks them a series of questions about Grace’s medical history before asking, “Has Grace been having any trouble at school lately? Or home?”

 

Danny is instantly on the defensive. He’s seen his fair share of doctors and he knows that this line of questioning is heading down the path of not diagnosing Grace and trying to fob her off on a psychologist.

 

“Look, I know you think that question is relevant, but I have IBS, and I know that relatives are twice as likely to develop it,” Danny says, watching the doctor for negative reactions, “Can we please focus on physical causes first, before we move on to emotional ones?”

 

Danny is ready to tell the doctor to go fuck himself if he so much as blinks wrong and is relieved when the doctor nods his head in agreement.

 

“Of course,” the doctor says without argument, “I understand your concerns. We’ll start with blood work and allergy tests first, before we move onto more invasive tests.”

 

Grace watches when they take blood instead of turning away like they suggested. She doesn’t seem perturbed by it at all.

 

+

 

“Rach?” Danny says, catching Rachel before she gets into her car. Grace is already in the passenger seat, texting a friend.

 

Rachel stops and waits for Danny to speak. She looks worried.

 

“If this is IBS, I just want you to know how sorry I am,” Danny says, fearing that Rachel will blame him like he blames himself.

 

“Daniel,” Rachel says, laying a hand on his shoulder, “If this is, I won’t be angry with you. You didn’t cause this. And if Grace does have IBS, I’m glad she’ll have you to help her. I don’t want Grace ever having to face the lack of support that you did. I’ll do better with her, I promise.”

 

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Danny says, hugging Rachel tightly.

 

Rachel has changed a lot since they got divorced, for the better. She’s back to the caring, loving woman Danny first fell in love with. He’s never doubted her love for Grace.

 

+

 

Steve is like a rock the next few days while they wait for Grace’s results. His quiet support helps Danny immensely and he listens to Danny every time his anxiety gets too much and he needs to talk it out. The worst part of it is knowing that if the tests all come back negative and they can’t identify anything wrong with her, it’s even more likely that she has IBS. It’s only after they’ve done all the tests they can that they might diagnose her, and they’ll all come up clean and healthy. Not for the first time Danny wishes that there was some indicator besides process of elimination. In a way, Danny hopes that it is just stress, as much as he wants everything in Grace’s life to be perfect. At least stress they can combat stress and hopefully get rid of.

 

+

 

They go to see the doctor when the tests come back and Danny wants to be sick when the doctor says, “I’m not sure if this is good news.”

 

“Grace is lactose intolerant,” the doctor says.

 

Danny takes a moment to process that.

 

“So she doesn’t have IBS?” Rachel asks.

 

“We can’t say that for certain,” the doctor says with a comforting smile, “But before we pursue this further I want Grace to go on a lactose free diet. If her symptoms clear up, then we can be more certain.”

 

Danny nods and they leave. He’s relieved definitely, but he’s not happy that Grace is lactose intolerant. This won’t make her life easy. Danny knows from personal experience how hard it is to have a restricted diet.

 

+

 

When Danny gets home Steve is waiting anxiously by the door. Danny tells Steve what happened and Steve lets out a loud breath.

 

“So if she stays away from lactose then she shouldn’t be in any pain?” Steve asks.

 

“Hopefully,” Danny says, wrapping his arms around Steve and sagging into him.

 

“I wish it were that simple for you,” Steve mumbles into Danny’s hair.

 

“It’s still not going to be easy for her,” Danny says.

 

“She’s tough and smart and stubborn,” Steve says, “Just like you. She’s going to be fine.”

 

+

 

Cutting lactose out of Grace’s diet works. The stomach aches go. Danny experiments with milk substitutes to make sure that Grace isn’t missing out too much. He gets really good at making soy chocolate milkshakes.

 


End file.
